McCain threatens new defense nominations hold over Army waiver changes

WASHINGTON — Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain is again threatening to hold up President Donald Trump’s defense nominations over poor communication between Pentagon and congressional officials, this time in regards to unannounced relaxed Army enlistment policies. “It’s a problem we’ve been having with this administration,” said McCain, R-Ariz., at a confirmation hearing for three nominees on Tuesday. “We should have been told about this before it showed up in a USA Today article. The Army did not respond to a question of how many waivers, if any, have been issued since the policy was changed.” McCain said he feels the only way his committee can get information from the Pentagon is to mandate defense officials testify in opening hearings, or “we stop confirming people for jobs” to force the issue. At issue is a USA Today report from last week that said in...